Under the drive, which will continue till June 10, the government has set a target to vaccinate 88 lakh children in 38 UP districts, including Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Maharajganj and Basti

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday launched a campaign to eradicate Japanese Encephalitis (JE), a disease that claims the lives of hundreds of children every year in the state.

Under the drive, which will continue till June 10, the government has set a target to vaccinate 88 lakh children in 38 UP districts, including Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Maharajganj and Basti.

Assuring the people that his government won’t let any children die of such ailments, Yogi said “We have successfully eradicated vector-borne diseases like polio and filaria and now the target is diseases like JE and AES (Acute Encephalitis Syndrome). The chief minister was talking to reporters after the launch of vaccination campaign in Kushinagar.

He arrived here to attend a programme organised to mark the completion of three years of BJP government in the centre. Five kids, including three girls, were vaccinated and given the vaccination card by the chief minister on the occasion.

The CM also urged people to become a part of Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan. He also launched a website and released a toll free number 1800- 180-5544 for encephalitis patients.

Addressing a public meet, the CM said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very serious about deaths caused by JE and AES and it was due to his support that a vaccination drive had been launched successfully.

He assured people that government would ensure the availability of potable drinking water even in rural areas and health officials would be regularly visiting them to ensure the success of the drive.

“Besides awareness (about the disease), people’s participation is essential (to overcome the challenge) and we will make an appeal to common people to pay importance to hygiene and consume only clean drinking water.

“We are trying to provide piped water supply but it may take some time, but in areas which have handpumps, people should consume boiled water,” the chief minister said, adding that the disease can be checked through clean potable water, effective cleanliness programmes and through such immunisation schemes.

“There is another effort to provide proper treatment to those affected by the disease at the community health centres and district hospitals and see that only the serious patients reach BRD medical college hospital in Gorakhpur,” he said.